Even Realities raises $150M at $1B valuation led by Meituan and Tencent
Original: Smart glasses maker Even Realities hits $1B valuation with $150M funding led by Meituan, Tencent
Why This Matters
Even Realities' unicorn status signals accelerating investor confidence in the privacy-focused smart glasses segment as Meta and Snap intensify competition.
Shenzhen-based smart glasses startup Even Realities raised $150M in a pre-Series B round led by Meituan and Tencent, reaching a $1B valuation. Founded in 2023 by ex-Apple engineers, the company has grown from 30–40 to 300–400 employees and sold over 10,000 units of its display-first G1 glasses.
Even Realities, a three-year-old Shenzhen-headquartered startup founded by former Apple engineers, has closed a $150 million pre-Series B funding round led by food delivery giant Meituan and existing backer Tencent, valuing the company at $1 billion. Earlier backers include Sequoia China.
CEO Will Wang, who previously worked on the Apple Watch and iPhone, says Even is taking a deliberately different approach from rivals such as Meta and Snap. Rather than equipping glasses with cameras for content capture and AI interaction, Even focuses on privacy-first, display-forward hardware. Its latest flagship, the Even G2, launched in November and features a heads-up display built into the frames with no camera. Users navigate via a companion ring, the Even R1, through tapping and swiping.
Privacy features include audio transcription instead of stored recordings, encrypted user data, and infrastructure built to meet European privacy standards. A key software feature called Conversate acts as a real-time conversation copilot, surfacing context, explaining jargon, and syncing summaries to the user's phone.
Wang emphasized that smart glasses rely on optical displays — waveguides — requiring an entirely different technology stack than conventional OLED or LCD screens. "You have to design the microchip, the optics, and the waveguide together. That's where we've invested the most," he said.
The company launched its first product, Even G1, in 2024, surpassing its initial 10,000-unit sales target. Staff has grown from 30–40 in 2024 to 300–400 today.